You Are Who You Are
by FenMoon
Summary: Beat's depressed after thinking he's screwed up with his parents again, and it falls on Neku to comfort him. Beat/Neku twoshot.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first story in TWEWY universe, so I hope that it's all right. Seriously, this is one of those games that everyone should try at least once. It's that good. Anyways, the influence for this story is A) there being way too few Beat stories and B) there being way too many Joshua/Neku ones. I really, REALLY don't like Joshua.**

**Anyways, I'm kind of nervous about this story, partially because this is a new universe for me, and partially because of Beat's dialect. I'm fairly certain that I screwed it up in parts. My only defense is that I tried my best, and I humbly ask you to forgive me.**

**Disclaimer: I own a copy of The World Ends With You, and that's all I own of it. Also, if boys dating each other bothers you, please don't flame. You're reading this of your own free will, so you are fully capable of stopping at any time. If this does not bother you, then please enjoy.**

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You Are Who You Are

Beat looked down at the city streets below him. He never was the type to people watch, that was more of Rhyme's thing, but right now he didn't know what to do. He was confused and frustrated and really just wanted to hit something, but even he understood that that wouldn't help and just get him in trouble. The last thing he needed to end his night was for his parents to get a call from the cops that he had assaulted someone or caused property damage.

His parents…to be honest, he wanted to blame this whole mess on them. He knew that they shared a piece of the blame at least. Still, he couldn't help but feel that most of this was on him. _He_ was the one who wanted to force the issue in the first place. _He_ was the one who lost his temper. _He_ was the one who had stormed out of his home and came here, despite Rhyme's protests.

Beat focused on the ground below again. He hadn't been here since the Game. Funny how those three weeks in the UG felt like so long ago and just yesterday at the same time. Then again, he did spend those three weeks saving the world, so maybe that had something to do it. Still, it had been a little over a year since then. His life was supposed to be nice and easy now. He'd like to think that he had grown up a good deal during the Game and the year afterward, so why was everything getting screwed up again?

"You know," a very familiar voice spoke from behind him, "you're quite possibly the only guy I know that would climb up to the roof of the 104 building just to think. Do you have any idea how long it took me to come up after you?"

Beat didn't turn around, he just sighed. He wasn't sure if this was the person he wanted to talk to the most right now, or the least. "Hey, Neku," he said over his shoulder. "How'd ya find me?"

Neku frowned. Beat had called by his actual name, not the "Phones" nickname he was accustomed to. That wasn't a good sign. Neku knew that his friend was depressed, but he didn't think that it'd be this bad. "I've been following you since you left. Alright if I sit down?"

Beat just shrugged. "Do what'ya want, yo." He watched as his friend sat next to him on the ledge of the building. He had really cleaned up for tonight. His usual headphones were hanging around his neck, but instead of a sleeveless shirt and shorts like he usually wore, he had on a light, pale purple t-shirt and a nice pair of black jeans. Beat, by contrast, hadn't seen the point of dressing up for people he saw every day. He had his usual wife beater and baggy pants on, along with his favorite skull beanie that he had grabbed on his way out.

Both boys were silent for a long time, looking out over the Scramble Crossing. Neku knew that they'd have to talk about it sooner or later, though, and while he was a little apprehensive about doing this on top of a building this high up, stubborn Beat probably wasn't going to move down from here anytime soon. Neku took in a big breath, and asked, "You alright, Beat?"

"…Been better," was the eventual answer. Beat still wouldn't look directly at Neku, opting instead to stare at the ground below. For a very brief moment, the thought occurred to Neku that he might actually be considering jumping down, this time without a psych-powered skateboard. "Sorry 'bout the 'rents, yo."

Neku just shrugged. "Don't apologize. We both knew that this might happen if we came out to them, and it did." Beat nodded in agreement, and both boys fell into silence once again. And, once again, Neku was the one to bring them out of it. "There's something that I need to ask you, though."

Beat gave him a sidelong glance. At least he was looking at him now. "Sure, s'up?"

"Why did you run out like that? I mean, I know that they're your parents and all, but I don't think that I've ever seen you turn tail like that before. You usual run into fights, not away from them, so what happened?"

Beat didn't answer right away. Before he did, he changed his line of sight from the streets below to the stars overhead. "…You remember what I told ya in da UG, yo? 'Bout me an' my folks an' all?"

"Yeah."

"When we got back, yo, I really wanted ta fix things. I wanted ta find some dreams of my own, an' ta get my folks to believe in me again. An' I think I was gettin' it, too, yo. My grades been pickin' up, an' Rhyme's been really proud a'me lately, an' I hadn't been in any really bad brawls all year. Jus' felt like I mighta messed it all up again by fightin' wit the 'rents again. I…I panicked, is all."

Neku raised an eyebrow. "So pleasing your parents comes before me?"

Beat finally looked right the boy next to him, looking angry. "Course not! Ya know dat!"

"Then what are you worried about?" Neku asked, now smiling. "You're allowed to stand up for what you believe in, you know."

"B-but…"

"No buts on this one, Beat. Look, making peace with your parents doesn't mean you have to be meek. That straightforwardness of yours is part of the reason people like you. I like that you're not afraid to confront your problems. I know that you're a good person, and so do Rhyme, and Shiki, and a bunch of other people in Shibuya, so show your parents how far you've come. Show them how you stand up for what you think is right…" Neku briefly stopped his speech in order to smirk. "…_yo_."

Beat began to crack up. "Usin' my own words ain't gonna work forever, yo."

"Hasn't failed me yet."

Beat finally let out his laughter. "Aw, c'mere, Phones." Beat wrapped an arm around Neku and pulled him closer to his side. Neku chuckled, not at all minding the contact. He was very much relieved that Beat was back to using nicknames again. Without that nearly suffocating energy of his, Beat just wouldn't be Beat.

After the laughter died down, both of them looked over the city, now a lot more relaxed. "You know," Neku commented, "this is a pretty cool view up here."

"Cooler durin' the day, yo. Rooftops look like part a the sky. We should see it sometime."

Neku scoffed. "No way we could get up here during the day without being seen, Beat. I don't want to end up on the nightly news."

"Pfft, you wuss."

After a few minutes of admiring Shibuya at night in a comfortable silence, Neku once again spoke up. "You know that we have to come down from here, right?"

Beat sighed. "I know, but," he said gloomily, "I really don' wanna go home right now, yo."

Neku nodded in understanding. "Hang on a second," he said. He pulled out his cell phone and began dialing. He placed the phone to his ear as it rang. Beat could hear three rings, but after whoever his boyfriend was dialing picked up, he could only hear Neku's side of the conversation. "Hey, Mom, it's me…Yeah, everything alright. Listen, can a friend of mine spent the night?…It's Beat…Yeah, the kid with the beanie. So, can he come…Great, thanks…No, we're coming home now…Yeah, I love you too, Mom. See you soon, alright…Later." Neku hung up his cell, and stood up from the ledge. He looked down at Beat. "My mom said you can spend crash with me tonight. So, you ready to go?"

Neku offered his hand to help Beat stand up, and Beat took it. "Yeah," he answered. "Let's get goin'."

"Good, because it's going to take a while to get down from here."

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**A/N: Well, there it is. Hope that I didn't butcher Beat too much. If you have any advice/critique/comments, then please review and let me know. I'd really appreciate it.**

**By the way, even though I wrote this to stand alone, this is a twoshot. Part two will show up in a little while, but don't hold your breath. It might be a while before I get to work on it, and I definitely want to get some feedback on my Beat before I start. So, see you all then!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, here it is. The (somewhat) anticipated second part of You Are Who You Are. Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed the first part. It's nice to know that I didn't completely butcher Beat's speech patterns. Anyways, this has surprisingly less yaoi than most yaoi stories, mostly because most of it is in the POV of someone outside the relationship. Hopefully, that isn't too disappointing.**

**Disclaimer: I do own The World Ends With You, but only as a copy of the game, not the rights to it. I don't own any of the characters in it, either. I do, however, own Yoko, although I really don't mind if anyone else wants to use her.**

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You Are Who You Are, Part 2

Yoko Sakuraba was expecting to be alone that night. Her son had told her a week in advance that he'd be eating at a friend's for dinner. Of course, she had thought it odd that he was planning to attend this dinner a whole week before it was to take place. She had also found it odd that he was going in some of his nicer clothes. Still, she decided not to question it. Just hearing Neku say the words "my friend" still gave her a spark of joy. Besides, being a mother and a woman, and seeing how much effort her son was putting into this dinner, she guessed that this was more of him impressing someone's family than a casual gathering, and that was fine with her. After all, Shiki was a really nice girl.

Between work and taking care of Neku, she had never gotten around to figuring out what to do with her free night, so she had been flipping through the TV channels to see if any good old movies were on when she heard the phone ring. She had actually been thankful, since channel surfing had become more work than it was worth. Since when had they had over 500 channels, anyways?

It had been a surprise when she heard Neku's voice over the phone, and even more so when she asked if a friend could spend the night. She was even more confused when the friend turned out to be that boy Beat. Wasn't Neku supposed to be at Shiki's home tonight? Still, she decided not to question it, and gave her permission. It wasn't as if she had been doing anything anyways.

As soon as she hung up the phone, she glanced at the clock on the coffee maker. Then she went into the kitchen and began heating up the stove. Neku had always run on a bit of a schedule, just like his father had, and it was too early for him to have eaten already.

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"I'm home," Neku called out as he opened the door. Beat followed behind him and into the apartment. "Mom? You here?"

"I'm in the kitchen," a woman's voice answered, as a head leaned out into view from the doorway. "It's nice to see you again, Beat."

"Uh, same here, Mrs. Sakuraba." Beat was embarrassed with how shaky his voice sounded, but it was just so _weird_ to see Neku and his mother in the same space. They both shared the same bright orange hair and crystal blue eyes, but that's where the similarities stopped. Where Neku's face was sharp and, despite all of his changes, still somewhat suspicious of the world around him, his mother's was soft and gentle, like those mothers in the TV ads that always fed their kids the "right" food.

Neku, of course, didn't see what was so off-putting about his mom, so he looked at Beat with one eyebrow raised. Yoko, however, just smiled. He really was a nice boy, even if he needed to work on his grammar a little. "Oh, Neku," she said as she turned back to her son, "Shiki called a little while ago, asking for you."

Both boys stiffened. Sure, Shiki knew how keep her mouth shut, but she did tend to get a little loose-lipped when she was worried. "What exactly did she say?" Neku tried to keep his voice normal, but his mother's surprised look told him he'd pretty much failed.

"She just asked if I had heard from you, and I told her that you had called and that you were coming home with a friend. I asked her if I could take a message for her, but she said that it was alright, and to just say that she called." Yoko narrowed her eyes at the boys. "Why?"

Neku had been in mid-sigh of relief when he heard the question, but he managed to recover from his initial panic reflex very well. "Oh, no reason," he said in a pretty normal voice. "Right, Beat?"

Beat didn't fare as well. "Huh? Oh, y-yeah, nuttin's wrong or anytin'." And to make it worse, he put on the most obviously forced grin that either Sakuraba had ever seen. Neku dropped his face into his palm, while his mother just raised an eyebrow.

She decided to let it drop, though. Shiki had sounded odd, too, like she was relived that Neku was going home. Still, Yoko thought it best not to pry. "…Alright then. I thought that you boys might be hungry, so I'm making some dinner. I'll call you when it's ready."

Both boys gave their thanks and scrambled up the stairs towards Neku's room. Just before Neku made it to the landing, though, he heard his mother's soft voice.

"Neku, sweetie?"

"Yeah, mom?"

"Is everything alright?"

"…No, not really."

"Do want to talk about it?"

"No, it'll work out. I can handle it."

Yoko smiled. "Okay, then." She went back to the stove to check on the food. At least Neku was honest with her. Besides, if it was something serious, than he would have been running around Shibuya trying to fix it, not coming home for dinner.

Neku continued down the hallways to his room with Beat in tow. He heard Beat snickering behind him. He turned around, a questioning look on his face. Beat just grinned, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Sweetie?" he asked mockingly.

Neku flushed in embarrassment. "Stuff it," he mumbled. "It's not like you haven't called me worse."

Meanwhile, Yoko focused on the stove again, only to be interrupted by yet another phone call. There sure seemed to be a lot more of those than usual tonight. She calmly walked over to the ringing phone and picked up the receiver. "Hello, Sakuraba residence."

"_Um, hello, Mrs. Sakuraba? This is Rhyme, Neku's friend."_

It took Yoko a few seconds to put a face to the name. "Oh, yes. Beat's little sister, right?"

"Yeah, that's me. By any chance is my brother there? Shiki told me he was going to Neku's."

"Yes, he's upstairs right now. Would you like me to put him on the phone?"

"_That'd be—"_ Rhyme suddenly stopped, and Yoko could hear voices in the background. She couldn't make out any words, but whoever was talking to the girl, they definitely sounded angry. After about a minute of raised voices and Yoko saying 'Hello?' into the phone, a new voice came on the line.

"_Daisukenojo, is that you?"_ The voice was definitely male, and sounded middle-aged. He also sounded very agitated. _"Now you listen, young man. I want you home this minute, do you hear me?"_

Yoko looked at the receiver, confused. "Daisukenojo? I'm sorry, but I don't know anyone by that name. Who is this?"

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Neku and Beat spent their time waiting for dinner sitting in Neku's room, watching TV in companionable comfort. Of course, for them "companionable comfort" really meant curled up in each other's arms. Beat had his head resting in the middle of Neku's chest, while Neku draped his arms over the blonde boy's shoulders, both of them watching the TV. Normally, the two of them would periodically make-out when they could relax alone like this. Tonight had been rough for Beat, though, and although he was feeling much better now, he was still a little drained. Neku didn't mind too much. It was a rare event when Beat was this submissive, anyways. Normally, his macho pride made him want to be more of the "man" in the relationship. Neku felt it was kind of nice to take the role for a little while.

Still, both of them were hungry, since the…incident…with Beat's parents happened before they had gotten a chance to eat. So, when Neku's mother called them down for dinner, they both raced out of the room. Beat got downstairs and into the kitchen before Neku, and both sat at the table to their waiting food. Yoko hadn't made anything too fancy, just some rice and miso, but Beat still practically inhaled it. Neku chuckled as he watched the other boy eat. If his appetite and feverish energy were back, than Beat would probably be okay. Of course, he would eventually have to go home and face his parents, but that was a problem for tomorrow.

Neku turned to thank his mother for the food, but stopped when he looked at her. Normally, he would have expected her to be slightly…disturbed…at Beat's lack of table manners, but she didn't seem to notice as she ate her own food. She seemed a little distracted. Neku was curious, but seeing as he wasn't telling her his problems tonight, asking of hers seemed a little hypocritical. So, he just ate his food, stopping to kick Beat's leg under the table every now and then, hoping that he'd take the hint and slow down. He didn't.

The three of them ate in relative silence, not counting the thanks and compliments from both boys to the cook. Eventually, though, Yoko broke the silence. "So, Beat," she asked, "if you don't mind me asking, what's you're real name?"

Beat blushed as he tried to stammer out an answer. "It's…uhh…well…"

"It's Daisukenojo," Neku supplied. Even though he wasn't looking, he could imagine the comical glare that Beat was most definitely giving him. Teasing him about his name was one of his favorite past times. "Why, mom?"

"Because that's what his parents called him on the phone."

Neku froze with his chopsticks halfway to his mouth. Beat choked on his food. Both of them looked at Yoko, slight fear in all four of their eyes.

"You know," Neku said. It was a statement, not a question.

"So it's true, then? You two are, well…"

No one said anything for a few seconds. Finally, Neku decided that, since this was his mother, not Beat's, he should be the one to answer. "Yeah, we're dating."

"…For how long?"

"A couple months now. Only Shiki and Rhyme know. Or at least, they used to." Neku assumed that his mother had already heard about what had happened at the Bito family's home earlier.

"…Why?"

Neku didn't answer right away. "…I don't know, mom," he finally said. "It just sort of happened. Not like I planned it."

Beat, a little put off by the last question, decided to put his own two cents in. "Ya really need a reason ta date someone?"

Yoko just nodded slightly, then looked at her son. Neku had a look in his eyes. Yoko couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic. It was the same look that his father would get sometimes. It was a stubborn, obstinate look that just dared anyone to try and stop him whenever he had set out to do something. She looked over at his son's guest. His eyes were a little more nervous and fearful, which really didn't surprise her that much, considering the angry tone his father had had over the phone.

She looked at them both again, both of them looking at her, and she sighed. "Please don't look at me like that," she said. "I'd say that I'm taking this pretty well, seeing as I found out my only son is gay less than fifteen minutes ago."

"Mom, are you—"

"I can't really say that I'm okay with this yet, Neku," she interrupted. "It's, well, it's a shock. But, it's not like I can really change you, or anything. It isn't really my choice, I guess. Give me some time with this, and I'll try to get used to it, okay?"

Neku smiled slightly. "Yeah mom, okay."

"Good. Now then, Daisukenojo," she turned to the other boy at the table, who now had a sour look on his face.

"_Please_ don' call me that," he moaned out.

"Fine, Beat then. I'm sorry about your parents, and you're more than welcome to stay the night. You can sleep in the guest room upstairs. Tomorrow, however, you're going to have to go home and talk to your parents. Neku and I can go with you if you want, but you can't stay here forever, alright?" The boy nodded. "Good." And with that, she went back to eating. Eventually, the boys fallowed suit after realizing that Mrs. Sakuraba was in fact not going to yell at them.

After all three finished eating, Neku and Beat ran upstairs again. Yoko called out to them, and they looked back down stairs from the top of the landing. Yoko was blushing and having trouble getting her words out. Finally Neku figured out why his mother had stopped them, but had suddenly turned bashful. "Don't worry mom," he said, "we aren't having sex, and even if we were, this wouldn't be the night." And with that he made towards his room, a now beet-red Beat following behind him.

"Alright, then," Yoko called after them, "but you two aren't sleeping in the same bed, got it?"

"Yes, mom."

Yoko went back into the kitchen to clean the dishes. Truthfully, she didn't know if she was okay with this or not. A big part of her wanted to try and talk her son out of this "gay" thing. Still, Neku had cut himself off from the world so severely until about a year ago, until that month that he had stayed in the hospital. Back then, he'd hardly say two words to her, and she had been deathly afraid that he would turn into a hikikomori. She had been so relieved when he had opened himself up again, she was afraid of losing her son again, especially over something like this.

Besides, if it was Beat, than it was probably okay. Yoko didn't know what had happened to Neku during that month in the hospital (actually, she couldn't remember a lot about that month for some reason), but what she did know was that Shiki, Beat, and his little sister Rhyme had something to do with it, and for that, she was eternally thankful to all three of them. So really, she couldn't find it in herself to be upset with Beat. She owed him that much.

After she finished with the dishes, Yoko walked upstairs to her bedroom. She felt like she should stay up and make sure that the boys really did sleep in separate beds, but she had had a trying last couple of hours, and she decided that she was too tired to stay up any longer. Besides, she had a feeling that, one way or another, she was going to be making a trip to Beat's home tomorrow, so she should probably be well rested.

As she passed her son's room, she peeked in on him. Neku and Beat had settled into the same position that they had held before dinner. Yoko could see that they were both beginning to nod off, but found that she didn't have the heart to force Beat to leave the room. So she just quietly walked away, and stepped her own room for some nice sound sleep.

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**A/N: There are a couple of things that I want to touch upon before here, which I think deserve some mention:**

**1. TWEWY posed a bit of a unique problem for me in terms of format. Normally, whenever different translations of a series or game have big enough differences (different names, the use of honorifics, etc.), I usually just go with the American published version. Here, however, I wasn't sure what to do, since the TWEWY has such a clear influence from Japanese pop culture, yet the translators used a very American translation. Eventually, I decided to just stick to my guns. I kind of liked how Beat sounded calling Yoko "Mrs. Sakuraba" rather than "Sakuraba-san."**

**2. Hikikomori is a term used to describe individuals that have actually completely withdrawn themselves from society, most not even leaving their rooms for over six months. Normally, this is seen as having more to do with an extreme fear or trauma involving social situations, but Neku's complete rejection of other people during the early stages of TWEWY seemed to fit with the definition. If you're at all interested in this, than I recommend looking up the series "Welcome to the NHK," which I think portrays hikikomori pretty well.**

**3. The month that Neku was in the hospital is in fact the month he spends in the Game. Yoko's memory has just been altered to think that he was in the hospital, and that she hadn't been allowed contact with him. I figured that the Game and it's ability to bring people back to life obviously can't become public knowledge, but at the same time having people be suddenly absent from their loved ones' lives for such a long period of time would be suspicious, especially in Neku's case, so this was the answer that I came up with.**

**Well, that's pretty much it. Please read and review, and once again, thanks for reading.**


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